It's a thing

You know when you meet someone and you immediately think to yourself, "we are not going to be best friends,"? That is basically how I feel about parrots of all varieties, but especially Macaws. They are really beautiful, but also really scary. I am not exaggerating when I say that one screamed at me, and specifically me (I have witnesses) for several moments on Saturday. A guy on our shuttle back to Guatemala got bit by one that was walking on him that very morning, and through his shirt no less. I saw the hole. Also, for more evidence, if you google "Macaw attack," ten pages and counting come up with results that are fascinatingly terrifying. Without even clicking through to the actual article, you can come up with gems on the main pages such as, "...my Macaw attacked me causing severe nerve damage...," and "sometimes (with Macaws) you can witness this kind of aggressive chasing...". Yeah, no thanks, I will skip the nerve damage after being aggressively chased.

Imagine my delight finding a Macaw aviary at Copan Ruinas. Does this encounter make me more comfortable with Macaws? No. I had never been up close before and they are WAY bigger than I had ever imagined in my worst nightmare. But, they do make for lovely models.